A quick review of The Ascent by Allison Buccola Continue reading
Category Archives: mystery
Other People’s Houses by Clare Mackintosh
I was really looking forward to Other People’s Houses. I ended up getting an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher but I had pre-ordered it because my local libraries don’t always carry her books. I really enjoyed the first (and second!) book in this series (and her other books) but this one was a little … Continue reading
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Mad Mabel was a delight! I was hopeful because I loved the cover and I’ve enjoyed other books by Sally Hepworth. I was not disappointed. The side characters from her aunt and her neighbors were a lot of fun. They all felt fully fleshed out and just odd enough to be interesting but not too … Continue reading
Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
If it wasn’t for some dark themes I would have thought this book was written for children. The writing is very simplistic. Everyone’s thought process is very black and white. The bad men are very bad. The influencers are all liars. The prairie is vast. It is an odd choice to write about influencers when … Continue reading
We Don’t Talk about Carol by Kristen L. Berry
I enjoyed We Don’t Talk about Carol but at times it was a bit convoluted and sprawling. I’m not sure if the pregnancy storyline was needed or fit. It took away momentum from her family of origin story, the story of these missing Black girls and the investigation. I liked the main character and she … Continue reading
You Belong Here by Megan Miranda
You can always count on Miranda to have a busy plot with a lot of characters but to tie up loose ends. This book was no different. I enjoyed the townie vs college dynamics and how she touched on being a relatively young mother of a college student when some of her peers have elementary … Continue reading
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Laura Lippman’s fixation with weight is in full effect in Murder Takes a Vacation. It was brought up so many times. It was a major feature of her Tess Monaghan books as well but it seems to have escalated. Who talks about their weight that much to strangers? And friends? She had virtually no other … Continue reading
Brooklyn Kills Me by Emily Schultz
I really enjoyed the first book in this unexpected series. I always like when the characters aren’t just doctors, lawyers and soccer moms but people cobbling life together a little more. I also like the aspect of having friends that maybe you wouldn’t chose if you met them today sticking around. I felt like Brooklyn … Continue reading
The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day
The plot of The Death of Us isn’t bad idea—the body of woman who may be the birth mother of your not quite adoptive teenage son is found in the quarry behind your house—but the execution was kind of slow. Not much happened for many chapters at a time beyond the main character talking about … Continue reading
Past Lying by Val McDermid
I listened to all of the Ann Cleeves Vera, Shetland and Two Rivers novels and then moved to the Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid. Some themes, like fatphobia re: the main character are similar and for both Vera and the first book barely mentioned the detective until most of the book was over and … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 